28 October 2013

Hermana Cornwall, Delia, Hermana Gonzales, Karen & Elder Minker

.Hola,

It was the last week of the transfer, so I found out that I am going to Fairfield! My new companion will be Hermana Hernandez. She actually was in my zone my first two transfers here.  We already know each other.  I am very excited to serve with her.  I think we are going to be an awesome companionship! I have been packing.  On Wednesday I will leave Davis and start another adventure! I can't believe that so much time has passed here! I have grown so much already and learned so much and done so much, I can't believe it! Mission's are the greatest/worst thing because you have the Lord's help all of the way!

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So this week -- We had a great week going and doing what we have to do. Last Monday we had a lesson with our new investigators, Elisabeth and Juan Carlos! They are a little family and they are just so interesting. I am so excited for them. She seems very interested and has already been reading the Book of Mormon. It is just great to see her taking it all in right at the beginning.

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Tuesday we had an interesting service opportunity. Someone that grew up as a member of the church now has fallen away because of some differences of opinion. She wasn't interested in hearing our message but she saw that we were Spanish speaking and asked us to help her on her spanish test! So we did, but at the end we talked about the Holy Ghost and things.  We were able to share a little bit of what we know she needed to hear. Then we taught Antonio. He was the one that came to church last week! He is awesome! His family are members and so he has the basics.  He just has the interest and excitement to take the steps necessary. We had another awesome lesson with the youngest son of the Rubio family. He is a senor in high school and truly searching for the truth. He is the nephew of Marychuy and she bore an awesome testimony to him of the truth of the Church and we have a lesson with him tomorrow.  We will see how it goes.

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Wednesday we tried out a new street we had never been on before near Hilda's house. It was nice to not know anyone and be able to just be free to talk to people. We had a lesson with Hilda about the plan of salvation. We hope that it goes into her heart to soften her to the way of life, being a member of the church. She has the truth she just doesn't know how to use it.  I hope that she will progress soon! We taught Elisabeth and Juan Carlos again. She had read in the Book of Mormon, liked it and understood it. He told us that he is only curious so we will see!

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Thursday was a little different because Sister Brighton had a meeting in Santa Rosa on Friday and so we did our weekly planning on Thursday. It lead to less to talk about today, but we did visit a woman who invited to watch the restoration video with them.  She said that she had already seen it! So that was cool and I wo'nt know what happens.  I hope something does happen for her!

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On Friday, because of the meeting, I spent the day with the Davis YSA Sisters. The only problem was that they did their planning, so I just worked on visual aids for lessons and other fun things! In the evening we heard about transfers. It is always a very exciting day because of all the anticipation and then it is always fun to hear. I was pretty sure that I was leaving, but it was fun to just wait at the other end of the line for them to get to your name.  Then they say that you need to pack up all your stuff and leave! It was kind of exciting though!

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Saturday we went to go see Brenda. She has had some trouble, so I don't know if she will be able to meet with us anymore.  I hope what we did do made a difference. We saw la familia Rodas. It was good to see them. Their life is kind of crazy right now but it was nice to see them. The only sad part was that I had to tell them I am getting transferred. They have been those people here in Davis that I have really felt close to.  I know that the missionaries that will be here will be what they need. I hope that their life can settle so that they can put what is truly important first.  We will see!   I met a girl from Fairfield. She used to live here in Davis but moved out there so she was here with a friend. I wrote down her number and will look her up when I get there! It was crazy but awesome!

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Sunday was horrible in the sense that I had to say goodbye to everyone. I didn't think it was going to be too bad, but when the branch President announced who was leaving he got really choked up. He couldn't even shake my hand at the end without tearing up. Oh Presidente Perez! He is a wonderful man. I appreciate him greatly and have grown so much in my Spanish, in my abilities as a missionary, and my self as a person with his help. I am grateful for him, more than any words can say. The nice things was that we as Sisters sang in sacrament meeting. We wanted to do 'Come Thou Fount' but we didn't have the words in Spanish.  We decided to do 'Joseph Smith's First Vision' to the tune of 'Come Thou Fount'. The music was too hard to play so we had to find better music and then do it.  It all worked out and was really lovely! Also, Antonio came to church again so it was awesome! The missionaries leaving are Me, Hermana Gonzalez and Elder Minkler. It has been a wonderful time in the branch and I will be sad to leave.  It is all for the best. We had our Charla Fogenera (Fireside) on Family History. No one but the other missionaries and the branch president's family showed up.  It still was a nice event! We hope to have a more successful one in the future.

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It has been a wonderful time here in Davis and I know there are only better times to come. I have learned so much and have grown so much also. I still have a long way to go but it will be wonderful as I now will go and help the people in Fairfield. I love each of you very much, I hope you always recognize the Lord in your life and remember that You have a Heaven;y Father who loves you very much!

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Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

P.S. I realize now that next week will bring a whole different list of investigators so I am excited to go to Fairfield and meet the people there and then I will tell you about them!

Pasta Party

Hermana Cornwall, Delia, Hermana Gonzales & Karen

Sister Cornwall, Sister Gonzales & Bro. Joel Rodregez (EQ Pres.)

Hermana Cornwall & Hermana Gonzales with Bro. Hoglund (in the Branch Presdncy)

Hermana Cornwall with Karen

Hermana Cornwall with Bro. Stapp

Hermana Cornwall with Sister Harris

21 October 2013

Hola,

This week I reached my 5 month mark! I can not believe the time has flown by so fast! Now I am in the last week of the transfer and I just cannot believe it! Time has just flown by, but I guess that is just what happens when you try to focus on others and not focused on yourself!
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So my week! Monday we had an awesome dinner with Familia Bibriesca! They are a less active family and when we first started dinner it was just the couple but by the end all of their kids trickled in and we were able to teach a lesson with all of the them. It was awesome and it is fun to see their faith begin to grow again! Then we picked up a new investigator, someone that we had contacted before. Her name is Monica and we are excited to see what happens. Seeing people at the basic stages it is fun to imagine their potential. Her prayer at the end was so simple and sweet it was wonderful. 
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Tuesday we had a lesson with Yolanda - our home bound less active! We committed her to start reading the Book of Mormon.  We will see how it goes! We had a lesson with familia Rubio, but only the daughter had time to talk.  It was nice to just have some one-on-one time with her! The Branch President's son was there.  He is so awesome and is going to be an awesome missionary! We had her commit to read the Book of Mormon also and focus on faith! 
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Wednesday, we taught Hilda! She is struggling in seeing the importance of the Book of Mormon and going to church, but still is awesome! She is the one that lives in between the fields. It is a hard because she is just stuck out there all of the time.  We hope that she will read the Book of Mormon and learn to trust it! We were at the Church building in Woodland doing language study and whenever we are at church buildings they always ask us to put a sign up so people know they can come in! You don't know if this guy saw the sign but he was on his route for selling directv and was having a bad day so he asked to come in. We gave him a quick tour and then just let him sit in the chapel. I think it really helped him and we will see what comes of it one day. We continued to put up fliers! We are having a fireside in Davis about family history and eternal families so we are really trying to advertise it. It is this Sunday so we will see what happens! 
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Thursday we had dinner at the Rodas house and had a good chat with her about life and where things are going. She is trying to finalize her divorce so she can get married so her husband can get baptized.  We will see! We visited a potential investigator who let us in and we gave a house blessing and have an appoint for next week! Then we met Maria Lira. She is an investigator from Winters, an area in our zone, and we just went over to meet her. We had a good long talk about her life and about any questions she had so far in her teaching. She has a lot of potential if she actual does a few things.  We are excited to help her out to do them! She invited us to dinner this week and she is so friendly and welcoming so we will see what comes of it! Then we taught the Adas who makes papusas. She is worrying about her own progress, so we are really trying to help her to progress. It was a great day though!! 
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Friday was an awesome surprise miracle day! First we walked a random way to a semi-appointment we had and of course ran into this woman sitting in a car with some guys working on a car and so we talked to her. She seemed to have a hard life so it was kind of fun to help her out. She is from Russia and translates for the guys working on the cars for the customers. Then the man, on whose car they were working, came out and talked with us too. They were both interested in learning more from what we said, so we are very excited. The guy said he usually shuts the door on us so we were glad to make an affect! We ran into a former investigator Agustine who we had talked to before. He had tons of questions and things so we just got into an awesome conversation about everything. His wife had asked him to go get dinner, but he just continued to talk to us. She left in a huff to go get food and then we met a few of his cousins and talked and said a prayer! When we were walking away the wife came back and passed us.  Buy then when we had walked a ways she backed up her car seemingly to run us over, so I pulled Hermana Brighton out of the way.  Nothing happened, but we are a little nervous to go back.  I will let you know! While we were leaving a latin man told us a lot of things that I didn't really understand.  We tried to share a little something but he just kind of left.  It all worked out and was a great night! 
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Saturday we had Youth Conference! The two girls that went out with me were a little shy but it was good. We taught a lesson with Brenda which was fun but it was a little weird to have to teach a lesson all by myself.  I am glad we have companions. When we were walking we had another guy ask me to question my testimony.  That is ok, because I am strong in my testimony. Those people always seem so nice but are in the end unpleasant to be around. We taught Betty! She was great. We started reading the Book of Mormon with her and she knows how to get the answer.  She just actually has to ask in order to know! We hope we can see her again soon! 
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Sunday was the primary program. The branch and the ward combined their efforts and we had a Spanish/Enlgish program! The best part about it all was that we had 3 investigators there. It was awesome! I was so excited! It was Hilda, Ada, and Antonio (a new investigator Hermana Brighton taught over youth conference). It was a little crazy to get kids to the right rooms and investigators to the right classes, but it all worked out! We taught Gospel Principles and it was perfect to really focus on our investigators and their needs! I had my possible last dinner at the home of Presidente Perez. They have been one of my homes away from home and I am grateful to have grown under their love and help! We taught another Elizabeth! We had planned to go last Sunday but they weren't there so we went this Sunday.  She was home and was just dying to learn more! We are going to teach them tonight so I am so excited.
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Oh the work is great and constantly moving forward. It changes us and blesses us and has eternal significance! I am glad to be able to dedicate my time in order to touch others! I love all of you and your support for me! Have a great week and I will be excited to tell you more next week!

Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

14 October 2014

Hola,.

I feel like I could say this phrase all of the time, "Oh boy what a week!" It truly is that way when you are a missionary. You have all of these spiritual highs, and low blows. You are receiving answer to prayer and you are the answer to prayer for others. We put ourselves out there with all of our energy and all of our time and all of our focus and it always ends up that good things come back because we are doing the work of salvation for the best boss in the world, Our Heavenly Father!

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Last Monday brought on all the wonderful things it normally does with a wonderful encounter with two young girls in our favorite trailer park! Their names are Vanessa and Jennifer! We met them as we were walking by and we sang 'I Am a Child of God' with them.  They both like music and we have handy-dandy Devices that have all of the hymns in multiple languages and it was awesome! The words really spoke to them and it was fun to see them with a fresh pair of eyes. Then we taught a lesson to Ada, who makes papusas. She is having a hard time because she wants to come to church and become a member but her husband is kind of holding her back. It is so sad to see her have desires but feel that she doesn't have the ability!

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Tuesday I had a lovely surprise! I got a letter from my awesome cousin Haylee. When I first saw the envelope I thought Who do I know in WX, Utah that would send me a letter. I couldn't figure it out so I just opened and then there was a letter from her. Here is a Shout Out to the Best and Loving cousin! Thank you Haylee! After that we went and saw our home-bound less active Yolanda.  She is awesome and it was fun to see her again. I don't know when she is going to be ready to take the sacrament again, but we are trying in subtle ways. We have really been trying to take the counsel of Elder Aidukatis - so we have been walking quite a bit from appointment to appointment and it is great! I am finally getting pretty comfortable with stopping people and talking to them! Then we had an Intercambio (exchange). I was with Hermana Gonzalez again. I meant to take a picture, but I forgot. It was fun and we got to stay in Davis this time. We taught the family of Marychuy. Well, at least her niece and nephew. Her Nephew is very interested and so we hope to see good things. The best part is that the Branch President's son has been coming with us and that has really helped! Then we went to English class after a long absence. We had some hopefuls that were going to come, but they didn't, but it was still fun to be in English class.

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Wednesday we spent the beginning of the day inviting people to a Noche de Pelicula (Movie Night), that we were going to have on Thursday! It was to be a finding opportunity and the chance to give people a church tour! We contacted lots of people just by walking around of course. Then we switched back at dinner. After dinner we had a lesson with Sarai. She has a sweet 2 year-old daughter and it was a great first lesson! She is very interested and is interested in finding a church.  So, we will see!

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Thursday we had Zone Conference. The surrounding few zones get together and get instructed by our leaders, the APs and the Albas. It was awesome. I was volunteered to play the piano.  It went pretty good.  Sister Alba likes the hymns to be played really fast.  That kind of fumbled me.  At least they had some music to sing along to. Sister Alba gave a talk on catching the wave. She played a surfing video with the song catch a wave. At first I was really enjoying hearing the Beach Boys and was taking advantage of the opportunity and then we got up, listened to it a second time and danced to it, It was great! Her focus was to have moments of glory and having less wipeouts! Then we had some training to teach more and how on facebook, by the tech Elders. President Alba gave us a week by week chart of the progression of the investigator which was really cool too! The 3 APs had wonderful workshops! The first was bringing it to the heart. He had a role play of us killing people with our inability to teach correctly.  Then we were taught the keys to have more successful lessons. Next was learning to teach the Savior's way, with 8 things we need to do. Last was - It is all about the flow! This dealt with contacting others while out in the street! All of their help was so effective and I was sooo glad to have it! Then we had the testimonies of those that were leaving in the next 2 transfers which is always sweet! I can't wait until I am that experienced missionary! That evening we had our Noche de Pelicula! One of our investigators actually CAME! It was great and we felt like we had a successful night! We got back to Davis with a little time left before 9 so we decided to put up some of our facebook fliers. They are little pull away, add us on facebook fliers, which was fun! We decided to walk just over a freeway bridge right next to our house which took more time than we thought.  We hurried home in order to be back by 9.

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Friday we our planning session and then we kind-of just walked that night,  like always because now when your appointment falls through you just keep walking! We met some awesome people. Within 20 minutes the 3 people that we talked to were from China, Hungary, and Africa. It was awesome and really proves that Davis is a diverse place. The last woman from Africa let us in to talk and we left her with a house blessing. As we were leaving I noticed that the football player on the back of her screen was wearing a BYU jersey. It turned out to be Ziggy! I asked her about it, but she said it was her son that put the picture up.  It was fun to relate sports to the Church!

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Saturday we taught Brenda after a long absence. We just focused on the Book of Mormon and she seemed interested enough to read it. We had hoped she would come to church but she didn't open the door when her ride was there so hopefully next week! We did service tracting. It is when we are in service clothes and knock on doors to say we are willing to help and help them. People are often as uninterested, but it is fun just to offer people something different! After dinner we walked some more and it is really great.

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Sunday we had a lovely Hour of Prayer on Fast Sunday and then we had a scripture study class. Well we planned to have a study class but no one showed up so we will see if we can do it another time. Then we met more interesting people on the street.

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Oh boy the world is full of so many! There are always more with whom to talk. I am so glad I have to have the courage to give them that chance to accept the gospel! Don't forget that you can do it too! Don't forget to follow the counsel of the prophets and be part of the work of salvation!

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Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

07 October 2013

Hola,
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I cannot believe that it is already October 7th! It is crazy how time is flying. When I look ahead it is a lot of time, but when I look behind it has flown by! I guess from the talk by Elder Dube I probably shouldn't look behind, but I am glad that I feel like I have accomplished what I have done! 
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Tuesday we had a Zone Meeting! So you know - I talked about Elder Aidukatis before, well, before our general meeting he had a meeting with all of the Zone Leaders.  So this week the Zone leaders shared about what that was. The new announcement is that we must plan every hour, even with the backups, of every day in weekly planning. Before in weekly planning we would plan lessons, pencil a few people in and then do our planning in the evening.  Now we are to take 6-7 hours to plan! I will get to how it all went later. It is amazing how much we have to do, with meetings and meetings just to help us to get to the work better. I had an exchange in Woodland with Hermana Gonzalez! She has been in the zone with me the past 2 transfers and this is our third together! We started with having a lesson with a less-active and his non-member wife. Their child was all over the place so I tried to entertain him, and they spoke so fast in Spanish that it was just difficult to understand.  It all worked out. Then - We got lost in this HUGE apartment complex. It was crazy that we just lost a sense of direction. We were searching and searching for this certain number of apartments but it just didn't come! Then we contacted this interesting man who was overly complementary to us, so we just left him a pamphlet and hurried on our way! A member found us and tried to help us find the apartments we were looking for with no luck. He did walk us to our car though to make sure we were safe. It was a fun night! (kind of!)
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Wednesday I got kicked out of my first trailer park! After talking with a resident near the entrance a woman told us that we were not allowed to talk with the people there. We told her we had an appointment and still she said we could not meet with them. It was a little odd and didn't seem exactly the best but we honored their wishes and left. I hope the Sisters have gone back since, but I don't know! We went on facebook! It is amazing how when we contact someone and they don't really want to hear our message we now have facebook as a tool to be able to touch them in the future by adding them as friends and hoping for the best! 
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Thursday something awesome happened. A person Hermana Kaiser and I had contacted a few months ago called us. We had tried to teach him many times but they either didn't open the door or didn't have time. So he had a our number from a card we left and he called us to know about when church was and things. It was great that he made the contact to start the whole process. He didn't come to conference, but we have hopes to see him next week. We had a lesson with Hilda, the one who lives out in the middle of a field. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and we hope that she reads it soon. Then, we had a good time on facebook, contacting and just trying to talk the others! Then we had a facebook meeting. I don't know if I explained this before, but we have a companionship of tech. Elders that have an area but spend a lot of their timing thinking of ways to help improve our online work! It was a 1 on 1 companionship meeting and it was great. That gave us guidelines and a schedule to follow when we go on facebook. It is a little slow right now but it was great to have more of a basis off which to go.
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Friday we had our very long, very effective (in the sense of how much we got done) planning session. So we went through all of our investigators and did the regular planning and then we went in and added everything else. The thing it really helps is finding. Now we have a lot of finding time planned and that is good. it is in between our lessons and I really think that it will help. We took breaks every hour to make sure we didn't want to "kill" each other by the end. In the evening I had some wonderful and interesting contacts and talks. The first was Nohemy. She was drunk, but got a good vibe from us, so she left her friends in the car and talked to us. It was very funny to talk to someone who wasn't completely coherent but we hope that things will happen for her in the future to change and become better! Then we spoke with Tomas, a former investigator and it was interesting to hear him say that he has a religion, but he likes to hear about others. These people that are curious and unchanging always interest me. It is really hard to get them to do anything. It all works out the way the Lord wants it.
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Then we get to the Amazing conference weekend. Oh Conference is always something to look forward to because it is modern scripture coming forth from the mouths of the prophets and it is always so helpful. Just to mention a few talks that I enjoyed the first was Elder Dube. He was so powerful with his voice and words! I loved his motto of looking forward. I find that when we look ahead it can be daunting.  It is also a challenge to be met and luckily we always have the Lord with us to help us! Then of Course President Uchtdorf's talk was very powerful too. (I forgot my notes so these aren't too descriptive but maybe I will add a little more next week!). We tried to see a lot of people on Saturday but they weren't home. One other thing I don't remember if I mentioned was that Elder Aidukatis asked to walk as much as we could during the day in order to contact people. So we tried it. We contacted 32 people just by being outside! Then we had a lesson with the Rodas Family. It was short and sweet and I love seeing them grow. I never realized how hard it was to be obedient to all the things God asks of us  Iknow that it is worth it too! 
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Sunday - another wonderful day! I was touched by all of the Apostles tenderness to the work in which we all need to strive. President Eyring was a great start to the day, with a great end with Elder Nelson and all the topics in between! I was grateful to have things be clearer to me of what I need to do and what I need to help others to do. It was an amazing Conference of personal growth and spiritual development. There is always more for us to do.  I am excited to do it! I will have to include more next week because I am struggling to remember specifics at the moment! Later on Sunday, we had planned to see these two families and have a Family Home Evening with them, but of course neither were home. We walked a little down the street and by chance met a women who said we could come in, but she was going to get the laundry so she said go visit my friend.  By the end of the night we were setting return appointments! It was great! I find that the Lord always provides when we are faithful and willing!
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It was a great week this week.  To be honest, they are all pretty great because this is the work of the Lord, the work of salvation. Miracles happen everyday and I am glad that I am able to be part of them and be here at this specific time to help others! Oh the joy of the gospel is always worth it because we are on the team that always, eternally wins! Hasta Luego!
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Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

30 September 2013

Hola,

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Another amazing week, and a mission changing week. This work is always growing and progressing. It never is stagnant, especially now. We will quickly get to all of the excitement! 

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Monday was a slower day, well a slower night because we only proselyte at night.  It was good. The good thing about it was that we found a friend of Marychuy's. I do not think I have explained about Marychuy before. Her real name is Maria de Jesus but the way people make it a nickname is Marychuy. She is the only really strong member in Davis! She is amazing and powerful. She has such an interesting life story and I loved getting to know her! She is awesome and just got called as a ward missionary. She comes from meager means.  She is strong! We met her friend just by being in this certain apartment complex. The work of missionaries completely changes when a member is tied to the work! Sadly the women works everyday but Monday, so we don't know what will happen but we have hopes!

 Tuesday is where the life changing stuff occurred. So as I mentioned Elder Aidukaitis came to help out our mission! We had an over 4 hour long meeting with him in order to get his counsel and help. Here is a little overview of what he said. He told us to take every opportunity. When we see potential with a person in the street or an investigator to always take it never to miss it! His very big bit of council dealt with inviting friends and family of investigators to baptisms. We help by writing lst and then we, as the missionaries, go and invite them and then try and start teaching them. I wish I could do it justice, but he really made it seem like the easiest thing and he told us that our potentials will just grow. He said it is hard work and that it will take a while to get good at it, but that we will see great fruits from our labors. He also told us to be busy, but also be productive. I never really thought that there was a difference.  Now that I think of it, there really is! Then he focused a lot of time on the attributes of a good missionary. They are mostly just the Christlike attributes in Chapter 6, but they come from D & C section 4! The first was Faith.  There is the acting in faith, and the power of faith. You can act in faith, but to see real progress and miracles we have to have the power of faith. Also this faith leads us to be exactly obedient and to make goals that are the desires of our hearts. He then mentioned Knowledge. Then Love. One thing that he mentioned that I just loved was that he said there will be no dislike in the celestial kingdom. When we are in the presence of Heavenly Father, you can't look at your neighbor and say, I don't like them I want to move.   Then Patience. This is one I have thought about a bit on my mission already. Patience is the ability to wait and hope and keep working hard. It is active and we are doing things not just twiddling our thumbs. Then Virtue. Sometimes I underestimate virtue. As a missionary it applies by controlling our thoughts of the world, our past and our family back home. Also that we need to trust in the Lord and have faith instead of doubt. He told us to learn to control our thoughts in order to be more dedicated in the work. The last was Diligence. He said we should be so tired at the end of the day that we need to ask the Lord for the strength to do it tomorrow! I find that when we truly do the work this is definitely true! He came back to faith and talked about Ether 12 - that when we pay the price with our faith we will see miracles, because God fulfills all of his promises. It was a wonderful meeting and a call to continue to live the higher law as a missionary. The miracle of the night was that after 8 we found a new family to teach. We just knocked on their door and they let us in and we taught them the first lesson. It was wonderful and we hope to see them again soon.

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Wednesday we had a pretty productive day with two lessons! One was a little odd because one of the women had to leave so we only had 5 minutes to teach the Plan of Salvation. We did an ok job and we hope to see them this week. Then we taught Hilda. Hilda is a friend of Marychuy (our golden member) and she lives out in the middle of the fields on one of the edges of Davis. When we turned on to the dirt road and just kept driving and driving I couldn't believe it.  It was really exciting! We taught her the first lesson, with Marychuy and it was awesome. She was so willing and open to be spiritually uplifted! We hope to see her this next week too!

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Thursday we had an exchange. The different thing about having a Sister Training Leader as a companion is that I don't get the training I just get to be the fun exchange. For me it is fun to learn from others and just be able to figure things out together! I had a nice time just helping in small ways. It was with Hermana Harris. She came out the transfer after me and is still a little green. It was fun to help her in sly ways rather than the obvious ones and it was fun because we are pretty good friends too! We had some good time on facebook. The funny thing about facebook is that the time just flies! It is so easy to get caught up in the friend requests and the notifications and the status updates instead of teaching people! I hope that I will just get better and better at using it! Our wonderful part of the night was teaching Betty and her family. They were truly open to it! She said she would pray and truly ask our Heavenly Father because she didn't know about these things before. Another - we will see!

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On Friday we didn't have any lessons, but I felt like we offered a house blessing to those that truly needed it! There was a Muslim family that was surprisingly interested in the prayer. It was amazing for him to talk about what they believe and their life. I found it quite interesting to talk with them, but it was difficult to really teach them. Then we said a prayer with Cristina who was struggling with work and just needed some peace! Oh this work is truly amazing! I love being able to find those who have been put in our path!

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We had a few lessons fall through on Saturday, but luckily there is always more to do, because the whole world isn't converted yet! As an unplanned lesson we taught Marychuy's niece and nephew, who are kind of former investigators. Their dad was interested in the Church but doesn't want to leave behind his lifestyle.  They all really do have potential! Then there was the Relief Society Broadcast. It was so different to be a missionary.  It was great. I loved their focus on Covenants. I couldn't help but relate to the mothers she was talking to when I considered what we also have to do for investigators. Covenants are something I understand a little more each and every day and it is amazing to introduce them to people so regularly! I loved the words from our Beloved prophet, saying Peace is what we seek. In this work of turmoil this is definitely true! Our Heavenly Father is always there for us, no matter what! What a strength it is that we have a loving Heavenly Father whose whole world is us, so we need to make our whole world him!

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Sunday we had a meeting with our stake leaders talking about their upcoming, missionary focused, Youth Conference! For two hours, as part of the process they are going to go out with the missionaries. It all sounds so exciting and I can't wait to tell you more later in October, when it is going to happen.

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We ended this week with a woping 11 new investigators. That is incredible. I am excited to see their progression in the upcoming weeks. The Lord is really preparing those that are ready and I feel so honored to be able to find them. All my prayers are with you. I love you all so much, and don't forget that you are an essential part of this work too!

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Love ya,

Hermana Cornwall

23 September 2013

What a week. I never thought it would actually be weird to just be with a complete stranger, but it was finally a little weird to have a new companion. Before I had people that were around the same level or stage of the mission as me. We were able to take in the weirdness the same way, but now I have Hermana Brighton! She has been on her mission almost a year. She is a Sister training Leader and a very powerful, hard working missionary. It has been quite a week! 
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Monday was full of packing and cleaning with Hermana Kaiser. Then on Tuesday I got sick. A good ol' cold hit me, which of course has taken a week to recover from since it we never really stop to take a breath as missionaries. All of the packing and saying goodbye makes me not excited to leave my first area, but it is just part of the missionary life I guess. 

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Wednesday we had a crazy day. Our zone leaders decided it would be best if instead of go with our companions to Santa Rosa and then to just come back that Hermana Whitely (one of the missionaries from my district in the MTC) and I would be companions for the day.  We had a fun day doing studies and some tracting, and then we went to Sister Whitely's area. She works in Winters and Esparto. Where we were for our time was Esparto. It has maybe one or two stop lights in the whole town and some of the roads are of dirt. It was a different experience than my college town of Davis. We had a funny night, because the Sisters (our new companions) were coming back from Santa Rosa and they were running late. I had a meeting so I quickly picked up my companion, put her stuff in the car and we were officially together for the next 6 weeks! It was a little crazy but fun. The awesome part about Hermana Brighton is that she is committed to speaking Spanish. I have already increased a lot. how much I speak in Spanish  The cherry on top of all of this was that I was still sick - but it was ok! 

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Thursday we had a great day. The weird thing for me is being the one that knows the area. We had a great day talking to everyone and just really digging in with both feet. The fun part is that we have all of these referrals on facebook. We have so much work to do. We taught a few lessons and it was just powering through the work. One lesson was with Elizabeth. Her son has special needs and she just sees a lot of bad in the world, so sometimes she can be having a rough day. The great part about this lesson is that we were really committing to act and not just talking to her. It was a great day. The only problem is that when you do everything you are supposed to do, when you talk to everyone, teach lessons, and just do it all IT IS EXHAUSTING! Needless to say I had a good nights sleep! 

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On Friday we saw lots of people, but no lessons. It is so interesting just to go out and talk with others. Everyday we just try and talk to everyone we see and sometimes it can be super intimidating or seemingly scary, but it always turns out ok. 

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On Saturday we had 5 scheduled appointments planned! The fun part was that before we left the house, it started to rain.  I pulled out my little rain coat and we went! Our first lesson was with Brenda, I don't know if I have really talked about her, so I will give a refresher. She is 15 and awesome. She has been to lots of churches with her family and just can't understand that if we all believe in God why are there different churches. This week we talked about the Book of Mormon. Her house was kind of crazy with people coming and going.  By the end her mom was sitting down with us. We started teaching her mom too and then by the end we said a kneeling prayer with her whole family! It was wonderful. The best was that we set a goal date for her to be baptized. October 26! So we will see want is going to happen. It continued to rain. Our next appointment wasn't there. We did some contacting of former investigators nearby and then we taught Roberto! Sometimes Roberto has bad lessons and this was one of them. I felt so bad for my companion because she didn't understand.  We kind of just ended quickly and planned for another time this week. I hope our next is better! After dinner there was a crazy rain storm and when I say crazy I mean CRAZY! They were the biggest drops of rain I have ever seen.  They just started coming down harder and more of them. Then came the hail and after minutes the streets were getting flooded with water. Of course all of our plans were falling through so we just ended up contacting people at their doors. It was wet and cold, but fun. We met lots of interesting people and it was just a fun night of seeing the life of Davis. It is always so interesting to see peoples faith! Sometimes they can have a lot, but not want anything you have to say and sometimes people have none at all.  Sometimes we can't even find out about their faith because they see us and then try and close the door as soon as possible. It was nice to go home at the end of day, do our planning and then get cozy. Quite a change from having to leave our windows open in order to cool off. 

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Sunday was a good day. It is funny to now take the role of someone the members know. Out of 8 missionaries. Hermana Gonzalez and I are the only ones that have been here for two transfers. I am now one of the oldies.  I kind of like it!  The only difference to my Sunday schedule now is that Hermana Brighton has a meeting with the zone leaders and district leaders, and the other Sister Training Leader on Sunday nights. So, I go on a mini-exchange with Hermana Wilcox. It is great. Hermana Wilcox came out with me from the MTC and it is always fun to be around her!

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It has been a good week this week, just going and doing it. There is always something to do and always people to see.  The hard part is finding them. Oh, the work of salvation is not the easiest, but it is the most rewarding. So feel free to be part of it, because it is an eternal work!

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I love you all. Thank you for all your prayers, they are definitely needed.

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Love,

Hermana Cornwall

16 September 2013

Sister Kaiser's last Sunday in Davis

 Hola,

It has been an amazing week this week! I graduated from being a greenie! I am Staying in Davis and I am getting a new companion named Hermana Brighton! It is so funny how change just becomes part of us as missionaries. This change brings wonderful blessings and opportunities and I am excited to see what mine will become!

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So nothing too very exciting this week. Last Monday I bought new shoes (pictures below). Tuesday it was also kind of a slow day. (the cool part was using our 8873 devices. I don't know if I explained this too much, but one of our apps. is the Area Book! In this app it takes all of the paper work we used to have and makes it digital.  We have had to input everything from the old [system]. It has been a long, but fun process. It has taken a few hours out of our day, but it has been really fun.) 

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On Wednesday we had a fun experience because we went to lunch at a restaurant where an investigator works and he gave us free food. It was fun to have a fun, free lunch and to see him! Then we visited Yolanda, our 83 year-old, home-bound less active. She is wonderful and I always enjoy her visits. Then later in the day I taught a less-active on Facebook, trying to encourage her to go back to church and to not let her fear and worry overcome her relationship with her Heavenly Father. We had a just-sisters dinner at the Stapps, my American home away from home. Not that I am not in America, but it is nice to have a place where you recognize things and you feel comfortable. It felt like a pretty normal missionary dinner, for once. 

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Thursday we had another lesson with Roberto and reset his baptismal date for the 28th of September. I think that he is actually taking it seriously now, so we really hope that he can come to church in order to be baptized.  We had some finding time. Recently with the addition of facebook and having pretty regular investigators we have been busy but we finally had some extra time to go and find people. So we went to one apartment complex that had a few formers.  The amazing part was everyone actually opened the door! We don't have that happen very often. We set up a few more return appointments.  We will see how that goes. Later in the evening we just did straight finding at a different complex.  The miracle then was that people opened their doors and were willing for a house blessing. I don't know if I have explained it before but we are a test mission for 5 key phrases when contacting people. They are:

• " I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ" (instead of "missionary"), 
• "Can we leave a blessing on your home?", 
• "Who do you know that needs this message?", 
•  "Will you come to sacrament meeting?"
• "I testify in the name of Jesus Christ..." 

We have found that they are very effective when talking with others. With the blessing - we offer the blessing to bring the Spirit into their home and also to offer things that they need. It feels a little weird sometimes to say " can we leave a blessing on your home?" but it really is a small and effective way to get in. We just say a prayer and then hopefully set up another appointment/ I like it because it makes it less we are missionaries and then people slam the door in your face. On Thursday night everyone was willing to let us in, which was really nice. Most of these contacts are in English, but my favorite part is when we get to someone that speaks Spanish and they say "no hablo ingles" and we say "Esta bien Hablamos espanol." It usually surprises them a little but it makes me feel really effective. 

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Friday we did weekly planning, and for the first time in a long time we finished it all in one sitting of like 4 -5 hours! Then I had a facebook idea. Well actually I stole it from another missionary, but I like it. On our Mission facebook page an Elder posted that he had asked to be part of Ward facebook pages and then asked for referrals, so I decided to try it. It has been really effective to just post a message about what I do and that I would like referrals.  People are truly interested. I have gotten a handful of referrals so far.  I am excited to see how it goes. The fun part is that these referrals can be all over and that is great! Then we found out about transfers. So, as said in the beginning, I am staying in Davis, but my companion Sister Kaiser, is going to Eureka. That is the farthest you can go up in our mission for Spanish speakers so I am very excited for her!

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Saturday was kind of an end and continuation of a falling through week. A lot of our plans didn't always work out, but it worked out. We went to visit Brenda, but she wasn't home.  We looked for formers. (The cool thing about the app is that we are able to have our area book right at our finger tips. One nice feature is the formers and potentials are all just right there too. The problem is, in order to see where they live on the map we have to have internet. One day we will have an iphone and it will be all in there too!) On Saturday I was still trying to carry out all that I needed to for my facebook idea so that was fun and takes quite a bit of time! 

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Sunday was an amazing day for our branch. We got new counselors in the Relief Society and Elders Quorum. It was awesome 1 of the new counselors is a woman who has only attended sacrament meeting for a long time and the 2 new elders quorum counselors just got the Melchizedek Priesthood this week! It is so exciting and they both were wearing suits too. I love to see the branch progress right before my eyes. Then for dinner we have Sopes. They were amazing! They are a fired and thick dough patty and then you put beans, meat, lettuce, cheese etc. on top. It was really good!

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Well it was a crazy week, but this is truly a  wonderful work that I am a part of and I am grateful for it everyday. I love each of you so much and hope the best for you as you go forward and strong members of this church!

Love,

Hermana Cornwall

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Sister Kaiser's photo of the Sacramento Temple